About us
We are the Startup Voice of Europe’s Digital Frontrunners
The S9+ Coalition is a voluntary, informal network of 13 leading startup organizations representing the most digitally advanced EU Member States. We operate in parallel with the ministerial D9+ and corporate B9+, ensuring that the perspective of startups and scale-ups is central to Europe’s digital and competitiveness agenda.
Our Mission: Turning Policy into Growth
In an era of increasing regulatory complexity, S9+ acts as a bridge between the engine of European innovation – our startups – and the policymakers shaping the Digital Single Market.
Our mission is to:
- Advocate for a liberal, innovation-friendly digital environment.
- Translate firm-level evidence from founders and investors into coordinated positions.
- Influence discussions to ensure simplification, coherence, and an “innovation-first” approach to implementation.
How We Work
Established in 2024 from the Frontrunners Alliance, S9+ project management is led by Danish Entrepreneurs in collaboration with local hosts from the D9+ presidency countries.
The S9+ Declaration
Direct Ministerial Engagement
We don’t just watch from the sidelines. S9+ members participate in D9+ ministerial meetings, engaging directly with Digital Ministers and European Commissioners to advocate for the needs of the startup ecosystem in the digital legislation.
Continuous Dialogue
Beyond our biannual physical summits, our coalition maintains a constant exchange of insights to stay agile in a fast-moving policy landscape and represent the declaration in political and startup arenas in the EU.
Strategic Ecosystem Integration
We aim to align our summits and workshops with major tech milestones and informal Council meetings. By integrating our policy exchanges with high-traffic start up and policy events, we facilitate direct conversion between founders and policymakers exactly where the innovation happens.
Our History & Evolution
The S9+ serves as the startup-specific counterpart to the D9+ (Digital Nine Plus), an informal alliance of EU member states that consider themselves the union’s “digital overachievers”. This movement began in the mid-2010s, launched primarily in 2016 on the initiative of Sweden to unite the EU’s “Digital Frontrunners”. The group originally consisted of nine countries – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and Belgium – that shared a similar economic structure and consistently ranked at the top of the EU’s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI).
In 2018, the group rebranded from D9 to D9+ to reflect its growing influence beyond the original nine members as Czechia and Poland joined the alliance. The coalition continued to evolve, filling the leadership vacuum left by the UK after Brexit with the addition of Spain and Portugal between 2020 and 2021. This expansion shifted the group’s focus toward the “Green & Digital” transition. Most recently, the core lineup was completed in September 2024 when Slovenia officially joined as the 13th member. Today, the D9+ functions as a deregulatory avant-garde, pushing for a liberal, innovation-friendly Digital Single Market as a counterweight to more regulated approaches.
Meet the Coalition Members
We are proud to be composed of the leading associations from across the continent:
